"The 57-year-old Dutchman arrived from PSV in May 2018, replacing Steve Walsh as director of football after his disastrous spell. Such has been his impact that he was appointed to Everton's board seven months after his arrival and placed in charge of overall football strategy at the club.
Kean's acquisition has his imprint all over it - a young player ripe for development placed in the hands of the manager, in this case Marco Silva, to apply the polish.
It is a strategy that has served him well, such as when he acquired the young Georginio Wijnaldum from Feyenoord at PSV in 2011 and when he brought the tyro Mousa Dembele from Willem II to AZ Alkmaar in 2006, the former Spurs midfield man playing a key role in their unlikely Eredivisie title triumph three years later.
"He has an unbelievable knowledge of world football and this Kean deal shows everything about Marcel Brands to me," Schreuder added.
"He is adaptable and creative - remember he did so many smart deals with not so much money at AZ and PSV. He is never lazy and he is so well-connected.
"Marcel is a correct guy with good manners. He talks to families but he can also take coffee with agents such as Raiola and the owners of the big clubs in the world.
"He has signed Kean and it will not be his last like this. He can do other types of deals too.
"Let's say there is a player who is not in a good way at a big club, then Marcel Brands will try to persuade him that there can be new life in football, new fun, that his wife will be happy and then maybe in two years you might move on but first give us two years at Everton. "
Brands has given Everton's transfer strategy the new dimension of a man at the helm whose name means something when he calls the big clubs and agents, an area where Walsh struggled.
Everton have now done three deals with Barcelona for Lucas Digne, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes and also negotiated smartly with Juventus to sign Kean."
The more is said about Brands, the more I like him. So glad we have such a competent DoF, which mostly definitively played a part in why we managed to sign someone like Kean.